Biography

the title.
new album called Wig Out at Jagbags. Jagbag is a great word. A smeared aspersion, not profanity, but derived from one….. watered down for the airwaves, or the assembly line. To Wig out--we've all been there. We ARE there, at least i Am.

And the "I" on a record is speaking for/as/to you, so If you’re not wigging out, go no further, dear reader…

(and then there is Dag Nasty, which I wont bother justifying , just a first flourish of the unstoppable need to name drop).

the album.
produced by the band and Remko Schouten, the Dutch soundman of Pavement fame, and owner of IJland studio in east Amsterdam.

I don’t know where to start… again. This record is inspired by Cologne Germany, Mark Von Schlegell, Rosemarie Trockel, Von Spar and Jan Lankisch, Can and Gas. Imagined Weezer/Chili Peppers, Sic Alps, UVA in the late 80's, NYRB, Aroma Charlottenburg, inactivity, Jamming, Indie guys trying to sound Memphis, Flipper, Pete Townshend, Pavement, the Joggers, The NBA, home life in the 2010's…

We (Remko) found a studio over in the Ardennes with a" farmhouse vibe". It was isolated, rural Belgium… near Luxembourg, the cradle of morbid Tax relief. It went very well cuz the band is quite good….We were (are?) pretty psyched with results.

I’ve spent the last couple years in Berlin. Berlin, while very hip and in some ways the "center" of Europe, is still isolated. At least if you are an American Dad. Pretty amazing place as you probably already know, and so easy to disappear into. Perhaps any " big" city has this quality-- but a New one (to me), where they speak German(mostly)….well, you can almost cease to exist. Which is of course a liberating fantasy.

But after two years there, we were Starting to Exist. It was like an average birth, without pain. I worked the lyrics/chords out on a computer on someone else's table in someone else's apartment. And This is what you get: Projected Imaginings of ROck and ROll from the freezing north, rendered by West Coast stalwarts and a Dutch Uncle.

News From The Matablog

Heads up --- the Jicks will be performing this afternoon at 2pm (eastern) on WNYC's "Soundcheck" , which you can hear all over the globe at WNYC.org. In addition, here's Monday night's performance of "Houston Hades", from "The Late Show With David Letterman". And if you're thinking this entire campaign was an awful lot of work just so we could get Letterman to say "jagbag" on TV, well, you're not wrong.

(photo culled from Food Is The New Rock, where you can hear Joanna, Stephen and Mike discussing, y'know, food)
Barring some kind of major miracle (ie. SM knocking out a new album in the next 5 months or Colbert getting cold feet), tonight (Monday, May 19) will most likely mark Stephen Malkmus & The Jicks' final appearance on "The Late Show With David Letterman", an occasion that ranks somewhere between Craig Ferguson's final show and the David Letterman's final appearance on "The Late Show With David Letterman" in terms of historical significance.
We're told the Jicks will be performing "Houston Hades" off 'Wigout At Jagbags', but given the show isn't being taped until later today, reporting this is just a tad premature. LET THE CBS CENSORS DO THEIR JOBS, that's what I always say in these situations. They don't show up at our place of work and tell us which critically acclaimed, commercially underwhelming records to release, nor should we poke around the Ed Sullivan Theater trying to tell them that "kids grow up really fast nowadays" and "the whole world's a fucking sewer besides".
It's all happening at 11:35 eastern time, by the way, or shortly after animal trainer Jack Hanna subdues a brutish creature from either soiling or maiming the host. But enough about Dave's old stalker --- enjoy the show everybody!

Sincere thanks to the lovely folks at KEXP.org for hosting & posting Stephen Malkmus & The Jicks' session at their Seattle studios last April 13.
"The Janitor Revealed"
"Shibboleth"
"Lariat"
"J Smoov"
Wig Out At Jagbags is available direct from the Matador Store and finer retailers everywhere (and some mediocre ones, too).

(we're very hopeful the entire band will be in focus when they're on national television)
You might recall a few months ago a wide-ranging conversation Marc Maron had with Josh Homme --- if not, you can find it here. Either way, on tomorrow's edition of Marc's WTF, his featured guest is Stephen Malkmus. Good thing they'll be getting into some intense subject matter as the latter is unlikely to receive any couch time when the Jicks appear on CBS' "The Late Show With David Letterman" on Monday, May 19 (see how I slipped that in there?)

Ex-Official Band SitePavementtherockband — Please don’t take me literally here, they could one day get back together. In the meantime, here’s the site where it all started. Stephen says they’re reworking it to reflect the history of the band and in the meantime, it’s down for repairs.